Heya! I'm so glad that people really seemed to enjoy yesterdays chapter! It really makes me happy knowing I got the feelings across like I wanted them to. Anyway, here's another Skye chapter! This one practically wrote itself, so it's actually a bit longer than most of the one's I've written so far. Hope you like it!


This time, Skye had been deep enough in sleep to wake up to the alarm of the basic digital clock on her nightstand. The first thing she noticed, beside the incessant beeping of the clock, of course, was the fact that her palm stung and her face was sore.

She shuffled to get upright and out of bed, hitting the off button on the clock a few times for good measure, before making her way over to the full length mirror.

Her heart sank as her eyes were drawn to the large, pale purple bruise that painted it's way up the side of her face. You messed it up. You got in trouble. Look at what you have to deal with now. Her eyes fell to her palm, which housed several thin yet jagged cuts from the ceramic. Crap. The gloves are ruined, too. Not only did you fail to hide the mess, you ruined your gloves. She glanced across the room, furrowing her eyebrows at the clear trash can that housed the ripped and stained glove.

After a second, she looked back at the clock and realized she only had 15 minutes until breakfast. She hurriedly put on a grey, long sleeve shirt and a pink skirt. She wanted to make sure she looked exactly how she was expected to, for fear of meeting the less than desirable consequences she learned about the night prior.

She looked at herself in the mirror again, double checking that she looked normal and ladylike and fine, but the purple tinge that had settled on the left side of her face ruined the facade. She looked over at the makeup, noted the blush, and tried to cover it up as best she could. It was a lot less noticeable, but she knew that if someone looked hard, they'd notice. It would just have to do for now, though.

She made her way downstairs, and it was like the events that transpired the previous night had never happened. Mrs. Garrett was humming a tune while making breakfast, Mr. Garrett was working on his computer at the dining room table.

"Good morning, Skye," He looked up with a smile. Not mad? why isn't he still mad? "How did you sleep?"

"Oh, I slept um, well. I guess." She internally cringed at how lame the sentence came out, but she was still reeling over how... normal they were being.

"Oh, Skye," Mrs. Garrett piped up from the kitchen, "Just to inform you, we're going out for dinner tonight. We haven't done that yet as a family, and I just thought the grades you've been getting warranted a little extra reward," She finished, smiling warmly.

Skye felt dizzy, trying to comprehend what was going on. It was a hollow, plastic feeling as she tried to wrap her head around why they were acting like this. Rewarding her? Using her preferred name? Going out to eat?

After a second she smiled back at Mrs. Garrett, deciding not to worry about it for now. The anxiety in her chest cried that what had happened wasn't going to be the worst of it, that she should be on guard, that she needed to watch out, but she was so tired of the confusion and worry that she let herself fall into the facade.

They enjoyed breakfast, making small talk as they ate, before they wished Skye a good day as she made her way to school.

As she was alone again, the doubt crept back in. What if I didn't cover the bruise well enough? what if somebody notices my hand? What are you going to say? That you're an idiot and dropped an expensive plate? Maybe it would be better to just say you ran into something, or someone ran into you.

The thoughts spiraled and, before she knew it, She was standing at the front doors of the school.

She walked in, trying to mask the unease on her face, but as she made her way to History nobody seemed to notice. Maybe you covered up better than you thought. This will be fine.

She sat at her seat, waiting for class to start, when she saw Jemma and the boy she was always with approach her table.

"So sorry to bother you," she began, wringing her hands. she furrowed her eyebrows while noticing Skye's face, but made no mention of the bruise before continuing, "but Fitz and I got into a tiny argument and we were hoping you'd be able to settle it for us. You see-"

"We noticed you were really good with computers," the other boy interrupted, "and Jemma's been looking to save up for a computer for her birthday, so Naturally I suggested that she should build her own with my help of course, but-"

"I think that's foolish, because I won't be doing anything intensive on the computer, merely using it for studying and educational purposes. I think it would be much more efficient to just attain a regular computer instead of going through all the trouble, but Fitz insists-"

"that she's the foolish one. If you're going to get a computer, you should make sure it's done right," he said, seemingly finishing their statements. Or was it one individual statement? it's like they're psychically linked, or something. Skye was kind of dazzled for a moment before realizing she had yet to answer the question.

"Oh, uh, if you're not going to need anything that's super intensive, buying a premade one may be cheaper. However if you want to run simulations like I always hear you talking about in Biology, I think building one may help you." She looked at them and saw they were both seriously contemplating what she had to say. "Of course, it's entirely up to you," she added sheepishly, a flit of a nervous smile gracing her face.

"Oh, I hadn't even thought about the simulations," Jemma said, seemingly going right back to being lost in thought. "If I want to run simulations for biology and eventually chemistry, I might need something-"

"A bit more intensive, yes. Besides, I can always help you build it, if you'd like," Fitz added, smiling warmly.

"Oh, thank you Skye! You were so helpful!" Jemma exclaimed, turning back to the girl. "Oh! Would you like to have lunch with us? I don't know if you have other plans, but we'd love to have you at our table!"

Skye felt something warm and soft wrap it's way around her heart, causing her to produce a genuine smile. "Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun." They both gave her large grins before Mr. Coulson called the class to attention, continuing on from the roaring 20's to the 30s. When Skye raised her hand to answer a question, she noticed that Mr. Coulson looked a bit troubled when taking note of her face, but he thankfully didn't say anything.

As class wrapped up, Skye was one of the first ones to leave, desperate to get out just in case Mr. Coulson had any questions or concerns about why she was slightly bruised. It wasn't even that bad of a bruise, really, she thought idly while making her way to her next class.

All the other classes passed by without incident, and she found herself standing in the cafeteria with her food a little past noon. She wondered where the two would be sitting, worrying if she'd be able to find them, but that fear was quieted when she saw Fitz and Jemma both waving at her.

She went over to sit at the table, noting a few others from her class were present as well. The redhead was, still, arguing with the blond boy, with Skye noting that the conversation was switching back and forth from English to ASL at lightning speed. Next to them on the side near Fitz sat the bleach-blonde boy and the girl with the accent from history class. Had they all been friends this entire time?

"Everyone, this is Skye," Jemma said, beaming at her. Skye hadn't been expecting the introduction, but rolled with it when she saw everyone waving and adding a "hi" or "hey" to the cacophony present whenever anyone is introduced.

"Skye, this is Natasha, though most people call her Nat. Next to her is Clint. They always get hushed by Mr. Coulson but have miraculously never been sent to the principals office." Jemma smiled at them, and both Nat and Clint rolled their eyes, but Skye could tell it was all in good spirits. "The twins are Wanda and Pietro, they moved here last year from Sokovia last year. They're both smarter than half the people in the grade, but Pietro also rules at American soccer and Wanda is practically a queen at volleyball." They both smiled warmly at the compliments, and Skye could tell they had a lot of work ethic and determination to be the best at what they did. "Oh, and you already know Daniel, of course." He smiled warmly at her, causing her stomach to unhelpfully flip again. She brushed it off, returning the smile.

The table fell back into the usual lunchtime clamor, Nat and Clint going back to discussing something about work ethic and math class while the twins and Daniel had been entertaining Fitz in a deep conversation about soccer versus football and the naming conventions of America in comparison to the rest of the world.

Skye, although only contributing every so often, felt perfectly at ease and included. She thought about the way Jemma had so easily included her after their conversation and wondered why she hadn't approached her sooner.

She was cast out of her contemplation as a laugh erupted around the table, Fitz at the center of it. She didn't exactly know what the joke had been, but she joined in laughing because it felt so nice to be in a friend group like this. Far too soon, the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch, but Skye wasn't as worried about the remainder of her classes as she would've been. She had a place where she was welcome and wanted, now, and that was enough to send her off to English with a smile.


Hope you liked it! Leave a review if you're so inclined, even if it's just to point out something I may have done wrong!